UBCO Baddies and Daddies: The Rise of UBCO Instagram Pages

Recently, two new Instagram pages followed me, “ubcodaddies” and “ubcobaddies”. The “baddies” page posts attractive girls, while the “daddies” page posts attractive guys, both from UBCO. Students can nominate their friends or tag the pages in their photos to nominate themselves. However, the two pages are not affiliated with each other.

The Admin of “ubcodaddies” stated that the original intent of the page was simply as a joke amongst friends, that was meant to to stay within the friend group. This year, however, they gained a number of followers and decided to expand based on the positive response they received. The Admin commented on their popularity, saying “Just the other day, one of the admins had overheard a conversation about our page while at UBCO, which is pretty crazy”. Now, their intention is to showcase the “great guys attending UBCO” in order to to dispel the myth that there are no good guys here.

“Ubcobaddies” is similar to other UBCO related Instagram pages. The page was started because its admins noticed the “popularity of UBCO Confessions and other pages similar to this, such as the Queens and UofT versions”.

The big question is: are these pages sexist? There is no denying that the premise of the pages is the objectification of these students. That is, both pages reduce the “daddies” and “baddies” solely to their looks. Objectification has a large history of contributing to other issues such as rape culture, sexual harassment, and the like. The “Ubcodaddies” Admin believes that there is no prejudice or discrimination towards men or women on the page, and that they don’t intend for their page to turn into something like that. Instead, they view their page as “a place to spread positivity and humor”. Likewise, The “ubcobaddies” Admin said that although they understand why some might see their page as possibly sexist, they don’t see it that way.

There’s also a few more reasons against the claim of sexism as well. One comes from a level of consent. To be featured, the individual must either nominate themselves or be nominated by a friend. For those who nominate themselves, they clearly want to be featured, and are okay with the premise of the pages. “Ubcobaddies” contacts those potentially being featured and ensures that they are okay with it. There are those nominated by friends who are unaware of their nomination until being tagged, however. The few people who have been nominated do not seem to be too upset, according to the comments on certain posts. Looking at other comments though, some students are happy be considered a Daddy or a Baddie. On the first “ubcobaddies”’ page, the featured Baddie commented “I’ve never felt so honoured”.

In addition, the pages further connect the campus together. As seen with the rise of party culture, UBCO students want a better campus life, and this is certainly one way to make people laugh, connect students, and start conversations. Many of the nominations seemed to be jokes or pranks amongst friends, leading to funny situations and comments.

All in all, the pages don’t really seem to be doing any harm, despite the questionable premise of objectification. The individuals featured find it humorous, and the Admins of each page enjoy their newfound popularity. Maybe a few humorous pages like this is exactly what UBCO needs to regain our school spirit. At the very least, now we know where to go when looking for a Daddy or a Baddie.